Name Marie Touchet Spouse Charles Balzac | Parents Jean Touchet | |
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Born 1549 Orleans, France Children Catherine Henriette de Balzac d'Entragues, Charles de Valois, Duke of Angouleme Grandchildren Henri, Duke of Verneuil, Louis-Emmanuel de Valois Similar People Catherine Henriette de Balzac, Charles de Valois - Duke of A, Charles IX of France | ||
Marie Touchet (1549 – 28 March 1638), Dame de Belleville, was the only mistress of Charles IX of France.
Life
Although born to a bourgeois family at Orléans, the daughter of Marie Mathy and a Huguenot lieutenant Jean Touchet "held her row at court as well as any of the first class ladies" (Le Laboureur, historian). Her anagrammed name was even Je Charme Tout meaning "I charm all." Henry III, King of Navarre was responsible for this clever wordplay.
By her late teens, she was mistress to Charles IX. In 1573 she bore the king a son, Charles de Valois. It would be his only son, for just one year later the king died, at which time his and Marie's son was entrusted to the care of his younger brother and successor, Henry III of France. The new king was faithful to his dead brother's wishes and raised little Charles dutifully. Marie Touchet received a pension for her services to Charles IX, and continued as a part of the royal circle.
Marie went on to marry the marquis d'Entragues, Charles Balzac d'Entragues, and in 1579 had a daughter, Catherine Henriette de Balzac d'Entragues. Catherine Henriette would follow in her mother's footsteps, later becoming the mistress of Henry IV of France. Marie died in Paris.